S  3 
945 
M54  C3 
Entomol 


UC-NRLF 


GIFT   Of 


CALIFORNIA  STATE  COMMISSION  Of  HORTICULTURE 

J.  W.  JEFFREY,  Commi..ioner 


A  FRUIT  FLY  MENACE 


(Ceratitis  Capitata) 


ORANGE   SHOWING  ADULT  FRUIT  FLIES  AT  REST. 
AFTER  W.  B.  GURK«EY,  _A<jn.  GAZETTE,  N.;  S.  \V. 


SACRAMENTO 

W.    W.    SHANNON        -      -      -  M   PKRINTENDENT    OF    STATE    PRINTING 

1911 


CALIfORNIA  STATE  COMMISSION  Of  HORTICULTURE. 


MAIN  OFFICE: 

CAPITOL  BUILDING,  SACRAMENTO,  CAL. 

J.  W.  JEFFREY,  Commissioner Sacramento 

O.  E.  BREMNER,  Secretary __  Sacramento 

MISS  A.  G.  BIRD,  Clerk —Sacramento 

GEORGE  COMPERE,  Special  Field  Agent— Sacramento 

E.  J.  BRANIGAN,  Field  Agent __Sacramento 

B.  B.  WHITNEY,  Field  Agent i Sacramento 

QUARANTINE  DIVISION : 

ROOM  11,  FERRY  BUILDING,  SAN  FRANCISCO. 

DUDLEY  MOULTON,  Deputy  Commissioner San  Francisco 

WILLIAM  WOOD,  Inspector Whittier 

R.  E.  JEFFREY,  Assistant  Inspector—  __San  Francisco 

STATE  INSECT ARY: 

CAPITOL  PARK,  SACRAMENTO. 

E.  K.  CARNES,  Superintendent ± £ Sacramento 

FREDERICK  MASKEW,  Assistant  Superintendent Sacramento 


A  PRUIT  FLY  MENACE. 

Compilation  by  O.  E.  BREMNER. 

The  fruit  growers  of  the  State  of  California  have  realized  during  the 
past  few  years,  more  especially,  that  the  fruit  industry  is  bearing  a  great 
burden  of  tax  from  the  source  of  insect  pests  and  diseases.  The  advent 
of  even  threatened  invasion  of  any  new  pest  is  therefore  viewed  with 
great  alarm,  and  justly  so.  Even  our  state  and  county  quarantine  forces 
have  been  more  alert  and  careful  in  their  inspection  duties  since  the 
White  Fly  (Aleyrodes  citri)  outbreak  three  years  ago  at  Marysville, 
Oroville,  and  Bakersfield. 

While  we  know  that  our  fruits  are  attacked  by  many  serious  pests, 
much  more  serious  are  those  which  are  now  just  outside  our  borders,  and 
but  for  the  utmost  vigilance  will  gain  admittance  to  our  State.  This 
leaflet  is,  therefore,  issued  with  the  intention  of  sounding  a  warning 
against  what  is  undoubtedly  the  most  destructive  and  hardest  to  combat 
of  all  insect  pests,  namely,  the  fruit  flies.  The  three  menacing  our  State  at 
present  are  the  Morelos  orange  maggot  (Trypeta  ludens)  of  Mexico,  the 
Melon  Fly  (Dacus  cucurbitce),  and  Mediterranean  Fruit  Fly  (Ceratitis 
capitata)  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  It  is  of  the  last  named  fly  that  we 
have  the  most  fear,  and  to  which  we  wish  to  particularly  call  your  atten- 
tion. 

In  October,  1910,  we  received  the  following  letter  from  the  Board  of 
Commissioners  of  Agriculture  and  Forestry,  Honolulu,  dated  October  6, 
1910: 

"State  Commissioner  of  Horticulture,  Capitol  Building,  Sacramento,  California: 

SIR  :  It  is  with  the  greatest  regret  that  I  have  to  inform  you  of  the  appearance  on 
this  island  of  the  Mediterranean  Fruit  Fly  (Ceratitis  capitata).  At  a  meeting  of 
the  Board  of  Agriculture  and  Forestry,  held  yesterday,  I  advised  the  Board  to  notify 

the  California  Commission  of  Horticulture,  and  now  officially  do  so  by  their  order. 
************** 

Yours  very  truly, 

(Signed)          EDWD.  M.  EHRHORN. 

'  Supt.  of  Entomology." 

The  seriousness  of  this  pest  can  only  be  comprehended  when  we  take 
into  consideration  the  fact  that  practically  every  known  fruit  and  vege- 
table, both  cultivated  and  wild,  is  attacked  by  this  insect.  It  is  essen- 
tially a  stone  fruit  pest,  but  does  not  limit  its  diet  to  these  fruits,  as 
shown  by  the  following  article : 

(T.    W.    KIRK,    NEW    ZEALAND   DEPARTMENT    OF   AGRICULTURE.       FRUIT    FLIES.) 

"Any  person  finding  a  white  pointed  maggot  resembling  the  maggot  of  the  Blow 
Fly  in  fruit,  is  requested  to  at  once  send  fruit  and  insect  to  this  office. 

The  impossibility  of  applying  remedial  measures  has  led  Inspectors  Benson  and 
Boiler  of  the  Queensland  Department  of  Agriculture  to  conduct  a  series  of  experi- 
ments to  endeavor  to  discover  some  substance  which  would  act  as  a  deterrent  to  the 
female  when  egg  laying  and  to  protect  the  crop.  The  results  are,  however,  disap- 
pointing. The  following  is  their  report : 

************** 

In  Western  Australia  and  in  New  South  Wales  nothing  has  been  found  of  any 
use  against  the  fly.  At  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  the  only  successful  method  has  been 
covering  the  fruit  with  mosquito  curtain  whilst  the  fruit  was  ripening.  *  *  * 
\\  «•  have  now  had  to  burn  consignments  of  the  following  fruits,  because  they  were 
infested  with  this  dreaded  maggot : 

Peaches.  Apricots.  Nectarines. 

( Mn-rries.  Pears.  Apples. 

Mangoes.  Shaddocks.  Mammee-apples. 

Pineapples.  Tomatoes.  Loquats. 

Persimmons.  Plums.  Mandarins, 

oranges.  Bananas.  .Maupi  fruit. 

Grenadillas.  Figs. 


Should  this  pest  ever  become  established  here  it  would  mean  the  ruin  of  the  stone 
fruit  industry  of  the  north.  It  will  be  seen  that  practically  all  varieties  of  fruit  are 
attacked,  and  the  measures  taken  to  keep  this  fly  out  of  New  Zealand  can  not  be  too 
severe. 

Some  persons  evidently  quite  without  knowledge  of  the  subject,  have  expressed  the 
opinion  that  New  Zealand  is  too  cool  for  the  Fruit  Fly  to  breed.  There  is  absolutely 
no  ground  for  such  an  opinion  to  rest  upon,  as  the  following  information  will  show  : 

(He  then  gives  statistics  showing  that  adult  flies  have  been  bred  in  temperatures 
down  to  32  Fahrenheit. ) 

In  winter,  however,  I  have  had  the  insect  remain  in  chrysalis  stage  for  seven 
months  and  then  emerge."  *  *  * 

Mr.  Kirk's  statements  alone  are  convincing  and  alarming  enough,  but 
we  have  much  more  of  a  like  character.  Mr.  Lounsbury  of  Cape  Town, 
South  Africa,  informed  us  while  here  two  years  ago  that  the  Government 
was  furnishing  growers  netting  to  cover  over  their  fruit  trees,  as  this 
was  the  only  way  they  could  produce  it  free  from  maggots.  Even  as  far 
back  as  1899  this  method  was  pursued  in  Natal  and  Cape  Colony.  Dur- 
ing that  year  Mr.  Lounsbury  states  that  only  4,000  yards  two  yards  wide 
was  used,  and  that  the  growers  did  not  take  to  this  method  of  eradication. 

In  Western  Australia  the  Government  bought  all  the  fruit  for  one 
season  in  an  infested  district  and  had  it  all  burned  in  the  hopes  of 
stamping  out  the  pest.  But  the  next  year  the  fly  appeared  quite  as 
numerous  as  ever.  This  was,  of  course,  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that 
it  was  impossible  to  destroy  all  the  wild  fruit  and  berries,  etc. 

Mr.  Gurney  of  New  South  Wales  gives  us  some  interesting  data 
regarding  the  resistancy  of  this  fly  to  any  form  of  treatment,  Among 
other  things  he  states : 

Burying  fly-infected  fruit  can  not  be  advocated.  Pupae  buried  six,  eight,  and 
twelve  inches  below  the  surface  of  the  soil  hatched,  and  adult  flies  readily  made  their 
way  to  the  surface  in  all  cases. 

Burning  or  boiling  infected  fruits  is  the  most  effective  and  satisfactory  method 
of  destruction.  The  maggots  are  not  readily  destroyed  by  liquids.  After  six  hours 
in  salt  water  some  maggots  pupated  and  developed  into  flies.  Infected  fruit  was 
submerged  in  salt  water  (sea  water)  for  periods  varying  from  six  to  forty-five  hours. 
In  each  case  a  large  percentage  of  the  maggots  therein  developed  into  adult  flies. 
Some  maggots  immersed  in  methylated  spirits  for  up  to  half  an  hour  survived,  and 
some  survived  dipping  in  kerosene.  Though  eventually  the  maggots  would  perish  in 
the  above  fluids,  yet  these  experiments  indicate  that  no  casual  treatment  (such  as 
throwing  infected  fruit  into  a  creek,  wetting  fruit  with  oils,  etc.)  can  be  considered 
a  safe  method  for  the  destruction  of  maggot-infected  fruit. 

There  is  no  doubt  as  to  the  seriousness  of  this  pest  in  the  minds  of  the 
Hawaiian  authorities,  as  shown  by  the  following  quarantine  rule: 

BULE   VII. 

Rule  and  regulation  by  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Agriculture  and  Forestry  con- 
cerning the  prevention  of  distribution  of  the  Mediterranean  Fruit  Fly  from  Oahu 
to  the  other  islands. 

The  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Agriculture  and  Forestry  of  the  Territory  of 
Hawaii  hereby  make  the  following  rule  and  regulation : 

SECTION  1.  For  the  purpose  of  preventing  the  spread  of  the  Mediterranean  Fruit 
Fly  (Ceratatis  capitata)  from  the  island  of  Oahu,  territory  of  Hawaii,  where  the 
same  has  established  itself,  to  any  other  island  in  the  territory,  all  persons  and  corpo- 
rations are  hereby  prohibited  from  carry  or  shipping  oranges,  lemons,  limes,  mangoes, 
alligator  pears,  guavas,  peaches  or  other  soft-ineated  fruits  grown  on  said  island  of 
Oahu  to  any  other  island  in  the  territory. 

SEC.  2.  Any  person  or  corporation  violating  the  above  rule  shall  be  guilty  of  a 
misdemeanor,  and  shall  be  punished  by  a  fine  not  to  exceed  five  hundred  dollars,  as 
provided  by  section  390  of  the  Revised  Laws  of  Hawaii  as  amended  by  Act  82  of  the 
Session  Laws  of  1905  and  Act  112  of  the  Session  Laws  of  1907. 

SEC.  3.     This  regulation  shall  take  effect  from  and  after  the  approval  thereof  by 
the  Governor. 
Approved : 

W.  F.  FREAR, 
Governor  of  Hawaii. 
Honolulu,  Territory  of  Hawaii.  November  21,  1910. 


A  IV  \\  test  ii  IK  in  i  nls  as  to  the  seriousness  of  this  pest : 

FROGGATT :  INSECTS  OP  AUSTRALIA. 

*  The  Mediterranean  Fruit  Fly  (C.  capitata),  first  recorded 
from  oranges  brought  from  the  Azores  to  London;  was  described  by 
^ladeay  in  1826;  it  has  a  wide  range,  and  was  introduced  in  New  South 
\Yales  some  time  ago;  it  is  one  of  the  most  serious  pests  that  orchardists 
have  to  fight. 

LEA  :  INSECTS  AND  FUNGUS  PESTS  OF  ORCHARD  AND  FARM,  TASMANIA. 

In  Australia  there  are  two  very  serious  pests  of  fruit  that 
have  not  yet  established  themselves  in  Tasmania.  These  are  the  Queens- 
land Fruit  Fly  (T.  tryoni)  and  the  Mediterranean  Fruit  Fly  (C.  capi- 
tata). They  both  attack  ripening  fruit,  and  in  some  parts  practically 
destroy  the  entire  fruit  crops. 

ANNUAL  REPORT,  1908,  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE,  NEW  ZEALAND. 
T.  W.  KIRK.  Biologist., 

Mediterranean  Fruit  Fly  (Ceratitis  capitata).  This  destructive  pest 
is  most  commonly  found  in  imported  fruit,  and  no  variety  seems  to  be 
immune  from  its  attacks.  The  latest  of  its  hosts  has  been  shown  to  be 
figs.  A  consignment  of  figs  was  condemned  on  its  arrival  at  Wellington, 
and  from  17  figs  241  flies  were  bred  out. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  MEDITERRANEAN   FRUIT  FLY. 
From  Bulletin  No.  24,  by  WALTER  FROGGATT,  Department  of  Agriculture,  N.  S.  W. 

Ceratitis  capitata,  in  the  first  place,  is  a  citrus  fruit  pest,  but  as  it 
has  spread  has  learned  to  feed  upon  all  kinds  of  fruit;  and  after  the 
orange  may  be  known  as  a  peach  pest.  At  the  present  time  there  is 
hardly  any  kind  of  fruit  that  it  has  not  been  bred  from,  so  that  any  list 
of  infested  fruit  is  quite  superfluous.  In  fact,  they  have  been  bred  from 
a  number  of  native  fruits;  but  the  native  fruits  are  so  rare,  compara- 
tively speaking,  in  the  greater  part  of  the  fruit-growing  districts  of 
Australia,  that  they  are  not  an  important  x'actor  in  the  spread  of  the 
pest,  and  are  more  likely  to  be  infested  themselves  from  an  adjacent 
orchard  than  to  be  a  center  of  infection  to  the  orchard.  Ceratitis  capi- 
tata has  been  described  in  a  more  or  less  imperfect  manner  a  great  many 
times,  but  it  is  better  known  from  the  beautiful  colored  figures  published 
by  Macleay,  and  again  by  Breme,  when  he  called  it  C.  kispanica.  As 
several  new  species  have  been  added  to  the  members  of  this  genus,  and 
some  confusion  exists  about  the  identity  of  the  earlier  described  species, 
I  propose  not  to  give  a  scientific  description,  but  a  popular  one,  that  any 
one  can  grasp  with  the  insect  before  them. 

Size,  four  to  five  mm.,  about  the  size  of  an  average  house  fly,  but 
looking  somewhat  smaller  when  dead,  because  the  body  shrinks  up 
beneath  the  thorax.  General  color,  ochreous  yellow,  lighter  on  the  sides 
of  thorax  and  basal  joints  of  the  antenna1.  The  eyes  of  the  usual  red 
dish-purple  tint,  with  a  blackish  blotch  in  the  center  of  the  forehead 
from  which  spring  two  stout  black  bristles,  a  fine  fringe  of  simila 
bristles  round  the  hind  margin  of  the  head,  with  some  coarser  on 


- 


curving  around  in  front  of  the  head  between  the  eyes.  The  thickened 
basal  joints  of  the  antenna?  pale  yellow,  the  terminal  segments  black  to 
the  tips.  The  dorsal  surface  of  the  thorax  convex,  raised,  and  broadly 
rounded  with  the  scutellum,  the  ground  color  creamy  white  to  yellow, 
marbled  with  shining  black  blotches  forming  an  irregular  mosaic  pat- 
tern, the  lighter  portions  clothed  with  very  fine  white  bristles.  These 
light-colored  bristles  more  lightly  scattered  over  the  dark  areas,  and  the 
whole  bearing  large,  stout  black  bristles  thickest  on  the  black  surface. 

In  many  of  the  pictures  of  this  insect  the  black  areas  are  drawn  as  if 
they  were  projecting  bosses  or  knobs,  but  this  is  incorrect;  the  whole 
forms  a  regular  rounded  surface. 

The  wings  are  broad,  semi-opaque,  with  the  extreme  base  blotched 
with  ochreous  or  brownish  yellow,  with  the  rest  of  the  basal  area  curi- 
ously marked  with  black,  forming  dark  lines  of  the  radiating  nervures 
with  dark  lines  and  spots  between;  beyond  this  is  a  broad,  irregular 
transverse  ochreous  band,  slightly  lined  with  black,  blotched  at  the 
extremity ;  another  similar  shaped  and  colored  blotch  runs  along  inside, 
but  not  in  contact  with  the  costal  nervure,  also  black  toward  the  extrem- 
ity in  the  angular  space.  Between  these  bands  is  another  shorter  black 
band  running  paralled  with  the  first  transverse  band. 

The  oval  abdomen  is  clothed  on  the  upper  surface  with  fine,  scattered 
black  bristles,  and  has  two  rather  broad  transverse  silvery  white  bands 
on  the  basal  half  of  the  body.  The  male  differs  from  the  female  in 
being  furnished  with  a  pair  of  stalked  appendages  standing  out  in  front 
of  the  head  in  a  line  with  the  front  margin  of  the  eyes,  the  extremities 
of  which  filaments  are  produced  into  spatulate  appendages  black,  finely 
striated,  and  diamond  shaped. 

The  living  fly  is  an  active  little  creature,  running  about  over  the 
foliage  or  fruit  on  the  trees,  with  its  wings  drooping  down  on  the  sides 
of  the  body.  When  disturbed  it  has  a  short  flight,  seldom  flying  more 
than  a  few  yards  at  the  most,  and  it  often  returns  to  the  same  spot. 


THE  MELON  FLY  (Dacus  Cucurbitae). 

During  the  month  of  July,  1902,  the  writer  was  in  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,  and  on  seeing  suuie  fine-looking  watermelons  in  a  Honolulu 
market,  inquired  the  price  as  an  intending  purchaser.  Imagine  the 
surprise  on  being  informed  by  the  shopman  that  they  were  one  dollar 
apiece.  We  afterward  learned  that  this  was  due  to  the  ravages  of  a 
fruit  fly,  commonly  called  the  Melon  Fly  (Dacus  cucurbit ce-)  and  was 
told  that  it  was  practically  impossible  to  raise  melons  or  cucumbers 
except  under  glass  or  cloth,  and  that  tomatoes  are  nearly  as  seriously 
infested. 

This  pest  attacks  practically  all  the  cucurbits,  tomatoes,  string  beans, 
etc.,  also  some  fruits.  We  have  taken  it  in  consignments  from  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  in  the  quarantine  office  at  San  Francisco  in  the  fol- 
lowing: Tomatoes,  mangoes,  cucumbers,  squashes,  and  string  beans. 
The  writer  personally  counted  79  maggots  in  a  single  tomato  in  a  ship- 
ment from  Honolulu.  So  serious  do  we  consider  the  danger  from  the 
introduction  of  this  pest  into  California,  that  a  quarantine  order  has 
been  issued  refusing  admittance  to  California  to  all  fruit  or  vegetables 
known  to  be  subject  to  its  attack. 


' 


The  following  is  the  order  as  issued  by  the  State  Commissioner  of 
Horticulture : 

QUARANTINE  ORDER,  NO.  4. 

Pertaining  to  the   Melon    Fly   (Dacus  cucurbitte). 

SACRAMENTO,  March  28,  1910. 

WHEREAS,  From  information  that  has  been  received  by  this  Commission,  and  the 
fact  having  been  duly  determined  by  the  Commission,  it  appears  that  a  certain  fruit 
and  vegetable  fly  known  as  Dacus  cucurbita  is  prevalent  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands, 
and  very  destructive  to  watermelons,  muskmelons,  cucumbers,  and  tomatoes  on  these 
islands,  and  that  the  said  Dacus  cucurbita  is  not  known  to  exist  in  the  State  of  Cali- 
fornia ;  and 

WHEREAS,  The  introduction  of  this  fly  into  the  State  would  entail  great  and  irrep- 
arable losses  to  the  horticultural  products  subject  to  its  attacks  ;  and 

WHEREAS,  The  most  rigid  inspection  can  not  determine  the  presence  of  the  larva 
maggot  of  this  fly  without  the  destruction  of  the  fruit  or  vegetable  which  may  be 
infected  ;  therefore 

It  is  ordered,  That  a  horticultural  quarantine  be,  and  is  hereby  established  against 
watermelons,  muskmelons,  cucumbers,  and  tomatoes  imported  from  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  or  other  territory  known  by  the  State  Commission  to  contain  infection  of  the 
Dacus  cucurbitce,  and  all  deputies  of  the  State  Commission  of  Horticulture,  County 
Horticultural  Commissions,  and  horticultural  quarantine  officers  are  hereby  instructed 
to  hold  all  such  fruits  or  vegetables  above  described  for  exportation  out  of  the  State 
or  to  be  destroyed,  as  may  be  directed  by  the  owner  or  consignee. 

J.  W.  JEFFREY, 

State  Commissioner  of  Horticulture. 
Approved : 

J.  N.  GILLETT, 

Governor  of  the  State  of  California. 


WARNING. 

After  reading  the  facts  herein  presented,  we  can  not  see  how  any 
patriotic,  thinking  citizen  of  California,  or,  for  that  matter,  of  any  state 
or  country,  could  knowingly  aid  any  condition  or  circumstance  that 
would  possibly  result  in  the  introduction  of  this  fly,  either  to  this  or  any 
other  state. 

It  is  plain  that  shippers  of  fruit,  and  those  directly  or  indirectly 
interested  in  this  industry,  will  not  be  guilty  of  in  any  way  causing  its 
establishment.  The  danger,  therefore,  lies  with  the  unacquainted, 
unthinking  traveling  public,  who,  in  making  a  pleasure  trip  to  the 
islands,  or  from  the  Orient,  will  bring  in  fruit  to  their  friends,  or  for 
their  own  use. 

It  is  undoubtedly  your  duty  to  spread  information  as  to  the  real 
danger  that  now  exists  to  California's  great  fruit  industry  from  such 
unintentional  carelessness. 

We,  therefore,  solicit  the  aid  of  all  of  those  interested  to  join  with  us 
in  sounding  at  once  a  note  of  warning  that  may  avert  the  catastrophe 
which  seems  imminent. 


MEDITERRANEAN  FRUIT  FLY  ;  ALL  STAGES. 

After  C.  W.  Mally,  Cape  Town. 
NOTE. — We  are  indebted  to  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Agriculture  and  Forestry! 
tj^  .       of  Honolulu,  Hawaii,  for  the  use  of  the  two  plates  illustrating  the  Fruit  Fly  in  thisj 
i^      leaflet. 

I 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

ENTOMOLOGY  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


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MAR  2  7  1989 

j      JAN  3  0  1990 

MAR  1  9  1990 

* 

LD  21-40m-l,'68 
(H7452slO)476 


General  Library 

University  of  Calif  orou 

Berkeley 


